Port Adelaide poised for player raid

By Jake Niall

Despite an aggressive post-season recruiting campaign in which they landed three players, Port Adelaide’s salary cap position in 2018 has the club positioned to snare another significant player.

The Power are understood to be among the top four clubs in the AFL for space in the salary cap, based on the AFL estimates for 2018 player payments – a remarkable outcome given they have acquired free agents Tom Rockliff and Steven Motlop and traded for Jack Watts, while adding a further three seasoned recruits.

How new Port Adelaide (and former Melbourne) player Jack Watts is pictured in his new colours.

Photo: Port Adelaide Football Club

The Power have created space in their total player payments in 2018 and, based on the amount available, would have the scope to bring in a player of Rockliff’s ilk.

Rockliff crossed from the Lions as a free agent on a four-year deal worth close to $2.8 million. Motlop, too, was handed a four-year deal by the Power on close to $550,000 a season – and controversially earned his old club, Geelong, an end-of-first-round draft pick as compensation.Port also recruited Lindsay Thomas from North Melbourne, Gold Coast’s Trent McKenzie and ex-Demons captain Jack Trengove for a total haul of six seasoned players.

While Port paid plenty for Rockliff and Motlop – who was pursued by Adelaide and Gold Coast as well – the club traded Jarman Impey to Hawthorn, lost Jackson Trengove (Bulldogs) to free agency and traded Matthew Lobbe to Carlton and Aaron Young to Gold Coast. Veteran Angus Monfries retired.

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Trengove, Lobbe, Monfries and Impey were on relatively significant contracts. The cumulative effect was that the Power’s incoming recruits were more or less covered by the players leaving.

Port’s salary cap room was assisted by the fact Melbourne are paying a portion of Watts’ contract, and while the Power are doing the same with Lobbe’s two-year contract worth close to $1 million, they have still saved significantly by offloading him to the Blues.

Another saving that has helped Port, to a lesser degree, was Essendon paying a portion of Paddy Ryder and Monfries’ contracts during their WADA suspensions in 2016.

Port are entering the season with a list that is, on average, younger than in 2017 – a surprising outcome in view of their aggression at the trading table. They drafted five teenagers, in addition to those mature-age recruits.

Port took umbrage at widespread suggestions from other clubs that they had a player payments squeeze as a result of huge payments to a number of players, including Hamish Hartlett, Robbie Gray, Travis Boak, Chad Wingard, Ryder and Charlie Dixon.